Message from the Executive Principal
Kia ora koutou, good afternoon, 下午好, 안녕하세요 I used to enjoy examinations when I was at school. The hard work had largely been completed: study, revision, learning content, practising exam skills, writing mind maps, reducing revision notes over and over again until a single word would spark a paragraph of ideas… weeks and months of hard work had come to an end, and now I had a couple of hours to show what I knew and what I could do. Not every exam went well! I can still a remember a disaster in my Year 13 Mocks when everything went blank, for example. But most of the time, those short exams were a chance to let everything come together, and I enjoyed the challenge, as well as the anticipation of
that sense of temporary relief when each one ended. We’ve now reached the end of this year’s Mock Examinations. It’s been good to talk to our senior students as their exams end. Most seem to have emerged saying things like “It could have been worse” or “It was okay, I guess”. These are the responses I like to hear: cautious optimism, mixed with a clear sense that there’s more they can do. When your chatty teenagers talk about their exam experiences this week, please support them by putting their concerns into context. Everyone wants to do brilliantly in their Mocks, but the main purpose of the exams is to shape each student’s study plan as they get ready for the Cambridge exams in October. In other words, to reveal what still needs to be done. Next week, all Year 11, 12 and 13 students
will get their marks back. This will lead to happiness, despair and everything in between. Our teachers will work with the students to turn those emotions into clear targets and study plans, so please ask your children about these, and reach out to teachers if you would like more information. Thank you to all of the parents who have supported events at school or on camp this week. Last night, we had two great, well-attended presentations for the upcoming Space School trips in 2023, and I’m really pleased that we have started our overseas travel plans again. Our Year 8s had a rather snow-free winter camp on Ruapehu this week – we are planning to shift to the South Island next year – and I’d like to thank all of the parents for their presence and support on this camp especially. It was also great to see and hear the
parental support at a range of sporting events this week. Next week, we have 59 Year 9-13 students attending national tournaments: we have teams in boys’ hockey, girls’ hockey, netball, table tennis, climbing and, of course, golf. Good luck to all the students and the staff accompanying them; and thank you once again to the parents who make this possible. AIMS is the week after – nearly 80 Year 7 and 8 students attending – and the parental support is even more essential during this week. We also have the Year 5 and 6 production next week: Madagascar is coming to town! I hope you have your tickets… The Year 3 students are due back from the Museum as I write; and Year 1, 4, 5 and 6 students are having awaydays the week after next. Again: thank you so much to all
the parents for all of your support. Which takes me to my recurrent theme at the moment: community. I am deeply, vocally proud to be part of such a supportive, kind community, and I point out, every time that I am asked, that it is the quality of our relationships that make our community such a strong one. I have noticed, as we all have, that people in our country are, perhaps, a little more fractious and quick to anger at the moment than they are usually. Pinehurst isn’t immune to this, and I want to ask everyone to remember that our community is at its best when we seek to understand before we judge. We have very clear frameworks and expectations for our children, as well as consequences when they get the tone wrong every now and then. As a result, our school is almost always a wonderfully harmonious place, and I know that all the
adults in our community will continue to ensure that it remains so. Finally from me: I have been asked which school I will be leading from January next year. I’m delighted to be able to tell you now that I’m heading to Harrow Shanghai, one of Shanghai’s very best schools, and am really looking forward to getting to know the children, young adults, parents and staff there. At the same time, though, I am going to miss terribly everyone at Pinehurst. I am finding it difficult even to write these words! It’s not for another 13 school weeks, but I plan to enjoy every minute of them with our wonderful community. Have a lovely weekend and see you next week. Ngā mihi Alex 如需阅读校长的中文留言和重要事件日期,请点击此处
Monday 29th August - College Winter Tournament Week
Tuesday 30th August - Crime Scene Investigation Workshop for Student Scholars
- Primary Year 5/6 Production - Madagascar
Thursday 1st September - Primary Year 5/6 Production - Madagascar
As the year has progressed, so has the construction of the Pinehurst Theatre and College 5. The walls are finally up, and the site is beginning to take real shape, looking less like a construction site and more like the theatre we have only been able to imagine through artist impressions. The state-of-the-art facility is still on track for completion in March 2023 and we can’t wait for the Theatre to offer regular musical and theatrical performances, whilst giving our students a unique opportunity to gain valuable skills – both on and off the stage. The site tours will take parents into the heart of the construction (yes - time for hard hats and hi-vis!), to see in real time how things are progressing; take a sneak
peek into the future of Pinehurst and of course learn about the ways in which you can support us We currently have the following tour dates and times available (spaces are limited):
Friday, 9th September at 2:30pm
Friday, 28th October at 4:00pm
Friday, 11th November at 2:30pm
Friday, 2nd December at 4:00pm
If you would like to attend, please RSVP to carmen.stella@pinehurst.school.nz for more information.
Message from the Principal of CollegeKia ora e te Whānau o Pinehurst College I was expecting the College to feel empty this week with Year 11-13 students on study leave or in mock examinations, Year 8 students away at camp and then on Wednesday our Year 7 also out for the day at the Writers Festival. However, Year 9 and 10 students have filled the gap and there has remained an atmosphere of activity and excitement as they have continued with their learning in a mature and sensible manner. Many of our students who have been on study leave have also chosen to
study at school, which has given them the opportunity to check in with their teachers and to work on their revision together. As we come to the end of mock examinations today, students will be anticipating their examination results which they will be receiving during the course of next week. They will be supported by their teachers to identify and fill any gaps in their knowledge and understanding as teachers guide them through examination answers during lessons. Students may need reminders at home that mock examinations are there to help them prepare and to ensure that they know what to concentrate on before their final examinations next term. Despite having many of our students out of normal classes this week, we have still had a busy time at school. On Monday the Social Sciences department organised a visit from MOTAT and all Year 9
students were given the opportunity to participate in a Victorians themed escape room as a complement to their current unit of work. Our students collaborated in small groups to solve puzzles and discover clues to help them “escape” from the rooms set up by MOTAT educators. Students needed to use their communication along with problem solving and time management skills to solve the puzzles and at the same time they were learning more about their unit of work. Feedback from the students I spoke to was very positive and the Social Sciences teachers were happy to be able to bring MOTAT into school after two years of cancellations. I am sure this is an activity they will want to continue with in future. Gymnastics Zone Day was on Wednesday of this week and our students achieved fantastic results. The Pinehurst girls team came joint
first with Takapuna Normal Intermediate, and Pinehurst teams also gained second and third place. Gina Xiang came first overall in the individual events. In trampolining, Noah Atkinson was placed second. Ms Vien and the gymnastics team can be proud of their achievements and of the way they represented us at the event. We have had a very positive response about Space School Camp and yesterday evening we ran an information evening for interested parents. We will be taking senior and junior groups to Space School in 2023 which is very exciting, this is a wonderful opportunity for our students and teachers. Our Year 8 students return to school today after a busy camp. Even with the warm weather, they were able to have one day of skiing and for the rest of the time they embarked on some of the
other activities that National Park has to offer. There will be some very tired Year 8 students this weekend and we are looking forward to seeing them back at school on Monday. I am eagerly anticipating supporting our Netball Team 1 tomorrow as they play in the finals. This team was initially placed in a lower grade but after they had played grading games they were moved up, at that point placing them at the bottom of their grade. The team and their coach have worked extremely hard to end up in the finals for the higher grade, a fantastic achievement for the team. This team will be representing us at College Winter Tournament next week along with many other Pinehurst College Teams. I am looking forward to hearing about their games as the week progresses. Wishing you a wonderful weekend. Ngā mihi nui Dawn
On Monday we had MOTAT visit the Year 9 Social Science students. They did an escape room session where students handled genuine Victorian artefacts and used them to solve clues and puzzles. Katelyn Campbell has written the following about it.. Imagine, you are stuck in the Victorian era (1837-1901), and your only way out is a broken time machine. Today, we were visited by two people from MOTAT. These enthusiastic instructors guided us through the incredible experience. Although not a typical classroom experience, it was unique and added a fun element to learning about the Victorian era. The people at MOTAT created an immersive experience, with a story as well. The ‘escape room’ consisted of 5 ‘rooms’ with 3-4 puzzles in each. After solving one puzzle you would
unlock 1 padlock out of 4. Then, finally after 4 padlocks you would be able to unlock one piece to fix the time machine. After solving 5 puzzles together, and fixing your time machine, you are whisked back to present time.
College Sport Individual and Doubles Badminton ChampionshipOver one hundred students from seventeen schools completed in the recent College Sport Auckland Badminton Championships held at the Auckland Badminton Centre in Epsom on Thursday 18th August. The Pinehurst Year 9 and Year 10 team, consisting of Veronica Xia, Alina Zhang, Jack Ji, Tony Yu, Jack Zeng and Robert Le Lievre, played either Singles or Doubles matches throughout a long day of games played between 9am – 2:30pm. Veronica Xia and Alina Zhang came 3rd in the Junior Girls Doubles competition, while
Robert Le Lievre and Jack Zeng came 4th in the Junior Boys Doubles Competition. This is a great start for our entry in the North Island Junior Secondary Schools Badminton competition being held between 22 - 24 November at the Auckland Badminton Centre.
Gymnastics Year 7 North Harbour Zone Day On Wednesday 24th August, we had 11 Year 7 students compete at the North Harbour Gymnastics Zone Day. This was the best result that Pinehurst has ever had with all of the athletes performing very well and coming away with some excellent results. The boys team placed 3rd overall which included the following students; Blake Hebbink, Dylan Morgan, Samuel Sohn, and Noah Atkinson. The girls then topped the podium with our two teams finishing 1st and 2nd respectively. The following girls team took out 1st place; Jessica Drescher, Zara Roodt, and Olivia Wang with the other girls team taking out
2nd place which consisted of Tesla Blackwell, Georgia Cowley, Gina Xiang, and Xier Wang. The Pinehurst Girls share the school trophy with Takapuna Normal Intermediate Girls. Jessica Drescher placed 1st overall in the girls Artistic Gymnastics Floor competition. Gina Xiang had an excellent competition, placing first in the Beam competition and then taking out 1st place overall in the Artistic Individual competition. Massive thank you to all the parents who came and supported. The future is looking very bright for our gymnastics team with some of these athletes going on to represent Pinehurst at the upcoming AIMS Games in Tauranga
Y10 Volleyball TournamentsThe Year 10 students have been working hard in Physical Education to improve their volleyball skills. Students were asked to choose from a range of activities each lesson, allowing them to face a suitable level of challenge. The basic skills such as digs and sets were developed before moving onto serving and spiking. The unit is coming to a close with inter-class tournaments seeing the students utilise their skills in competitive situations. Congratulations to Steven, Kohtaro, Nasha, Kenneth, Reynold and Jason for their win in 10SCD & 10SCC and congratulations to Lianna, Andrew, Roger, Hunter, Seth and William for their win in 10SCB & 10SCA.
Hockey Year 5 & 6 Super ClusterOn Wednesday 24th August our Year 5 and 6 hockey team attended the Super Cluster Competition. It was our team's first time playing on half a field and they produced some amazing performances. Winning their first two games comfortably, they then narrowly lost their third pool game but still made it through to the semi-finals, unfortunately they lost 2-0 and placed 4th overall in the competition.
Term Three in Commerce – A Hub of Creativity and EntrepreneurshipThere is a lot going on in the Commerce Department this term and it is flying by!
Juniors Case Team Top 5 in National Competition We started off with our Junior Case Competition Team making the National Finals of the UofA Management Case Competition! Well done to Chloe, Sissi, Roger and Angelina who performed admirably!
A2 Students Run Revision for Exams Accounting students have been developing their own summaries and revision notes on key examined topics. Then took turns to teach the content to each other – there are few better strategies to learn a topic in-depth than to teach it to others.
Entrepreneurs Pitch for $$ This week, Year 9 students have been pitching their business plans to the Commerce teachers in their bid to be awarded seed funding for their social enterprises. The teachers have been impressed by the sheer variety, creativity and enthusiasm for running a socially-minded business.
Products that have been pitched include sustainable phone chargers, to bird feeders, affirmation kits, study planners and recycled crayons! Students will be selling their products at the up-coming market day on 28th September. All proceeds will go to KidsCan.
Year 7-13 Readers Week!Readers Week was a week of activities to involve and enrich our students in their love of reading and writing. The event was a collaborative effort between the Languages Faculty, the Library team, and a wonderful bunch of student volunteers. We had two fabulous speakers visit the school; esteemed author and reading advocate Kate De Goldi, and artist, author and storyteller Stu Duval. Both were well-received by students and staff. Each day a new image was displayed on the notices as part of a flash-fiction, creative writing competition. We were thrilled with the many
entries that flowed in! There was a buzz of excitement around the library as the serious booklovers of college formed teams to compete in the Library Book Quiz during lunch. The quiz was so much fun that I think it will become an annual event. English teachers also posted book recommendations on the Schoolbox notices each day. These are now on display in the library. The last activity of the week was a poetry writing workshop organised by Liz Daly and run by Jo Emeney and Ros Ali. Around fourteen committed students gave up their Saturday to learn the art of Poetry writing from these experts.
High Distinction for Economics StudentsCongratulations to Sarah Chung, Langkee Hong and Courtney Hayward who attained a High Distinction award in the Auckland University’s Economics Competition. Over 1200 students participate nationally these students are among the top 10% of their division with a High Distinction! These students will be presented with their award at the awards ceremony on 20th October.
Message from the Principal of Primary Kia ora, Do you remember the books you read as a child, and which were some of your favourites? Mine were pretty standard I think for my generation. Famous Five, Secret Seven, Mallory Towers then for some reason the Weirdstone of Brasingamen stands out. Moving on several years later to a literature degree and the joys of Shakespeare, Ibsen, Hardy and reading Wuthering Heights in one sitting because there was a test on it the next day. Also on that list is Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White, the beautiful tale of a spider called Charlotte and a pig called Wilbur and how they become friends. Our Year 3 students are reading the
novel at the moment and sharing the joy of being lost in the story with the imagery and emotions it evokes in the reader. There are times to laugh and some sadness too when Charlotte gets older, but like all good story books it has a happy ending. Often children watch the film rather than reading the book which has so much more to offer in terms of imagination and the richness of a story. On the 12th September we start our annual book week and will have visits by authors, stories in the Library, competitions and the Scholastic Book Fair as well as the parade of course where we can all dress up as our favourite characters. It will be a chance for us to celebrate literature and the joy it can bring to our lives. I have seen some amazing New Entrant writing this week, fantastic vocabulary, sentence structure and students who were
telling me all about the adjectives they had used and yes, they called them adjectives. Teaching sophisticated concepts when children are young helps them to understand the structure of language and to begin to create pieces of writing that engage their audience at a higher level. I am always so proud to talk about the standard of writing our students produce and the work that our teachers do to teach so explicitly. A group of Year 6 students have been exploring Shakespeare too and the texts Twelfth Night and Taming of the Shrew. We have been learning about Shakespeare’s life and what it was like to live in England at that time. They have been asking fantastic questions and delving into concepts like the treatment of women at that time, rich and poor and ideas about public health and science. Exploring texts is never just about the story, there is so much more to unpack around the
influences on the author when they wrote. Don’t be surprised if you see some pirates on the decks outside the New to Two classrooms, the theme is proving very popular, and we are really looking forward to seeing the performances they are preparing for parents to watch later in the term. Each class is working on an item and will present it to audiences on two afternoons. This will give younger students the opportunity to experience a performance before they go on to take part in bigger shows in Year 3-4 and Year 5-6. Madagascar is almost ready to perform with tech and dress rehearsals on Monday before the shows on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Lights and sound will arrive on Sunday, and we will transform the Arena ready for the action to begin. Students have worked so hard, and we can’t wait for you to join us. Tickets are
almost sold, if you still haven’t purchased yours now is the time to do it. Kia pai tō rā whakatā! Have a great weekend! Sian
Kindness InitiativeThe Primary council are very excited to be involved in the Primary Kindness Initiative. At lunchtime two council members put on their bright orange vests and catch students being kind. They have special, ‘Caught Being Kind’ certificates, which they can issue on the spot.
As part of the ‘Kindness Initiative’ Mrs Jones-Hill is teaching a Health lesson in all of the Primary classes. The focus of this lessons is how we can be kind to ourselves, each other and our school. The students are encouraged to brainstorm ways they can show kindness to each other both in and out of the classroom. They are challenged to think about what kindness looks like, sounds like and feels like. As parents you can help your child by discussing the following questions at home: • What does kindness mean to you?
• How do you show kindness to yourself?
• What are two things you could do to show kindness to others?
• Can you think of a time someone showed kindness to you? - Mrs Jones-Hill and the Primary Council
Learning a New Skill in P5In P5 for our Global Perspectives we have been ‘Learning New Things,’ focusing on the skill of reflection. We have discussed what it means to ‘learn’ something and have talked about what we find easy to learn and what we find difficult. Also, we have thought about all the things we have learned since we started school. We know that everyone learns all the time and it is not just something that happens in school. We are currently working on using teamwork to learn some new skills such as decorating biscuits with icing. We also celebrated 100 days of learning!! We used the 100-day celebration in Maths to count out 100 objects. Morris and Stanford then took up the challenge to see if they could create a tower using 100 cups. For our Big Write Adventure this week, Max and Ant our micro friends are exploring the creatures they found in a rockpool at the beach. Yuanpeng was most interested to discover that when a starfish loses one of its 5 arms it is not a problem because it grows back!
What’s Up in P15?This week in P15, we presented our persuasive speeches to our class. Our chosen topics were centred around issues that impact us and about which we feel very strongly. We heard convincing speeches on issues such as ‘Should every child have a pet?’ and ‘Why all students should be allowed to select their own subjects’. Everyone spoke clearly and confidently on their chosen issue and five students were selected to progress to the Year 5 Competition, which was held on Thursday morning. The Year 5 teachers would like to commend all students on their fantastic effort and wonderful use of persuasive techniques to convince their audience.
Last Friday, as part of our Science studies, we were extremely lucky to have received a visit from Time for Tech. We actively participated in activities to learn about sustainable agriculture and how we can play our part in food resilience. We explored tech innovation and how this can be used effectively in food technology industries. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all and we would like to thank Ms Herbert for organising this for us.
PE Term 3 This term in PE we have started off with a focus on competition and interpersonal skills within Rugby. Looking at the way our students interact with their peers in a competitive environment, while learning basic skills such as running, passing, and tagging. Towards the end of the term, we will be looking at athletics and cross country while still incorporating how our students use positive interpersonal skills while competing against their peers. Remember that whether its within school PE lesson's or out of school on the sports field, it is important to show a positive attitude, respect others and challenge yourself to create a positive atmosphere when participating
in sporting events.
MandarinIn Year 4, we’ve been learning the names of countries around the world. It’s interesting how some of the names sounds so much like their English names! Like Canada, Malaysia and France. When we translate China from Chinese to English we have the words Middle Kingdom – now, that was a surprise. Wonder why that is the case….? Everybody knows running and dictation, but do you know what running dictation is? Year 5-6 CFL students tried running dictation this term! We worked in groups to reproduce some Chinese texts, during which we had to collaborate and utilise
our reading, speaking, writing and listening skills to explain the characters, sentences and punctuation to each other. It was challenging, but with our buddies by our side, we were fearless! Year 5 & 6 mixed groups have been learning names for snack foods and drinks. We have been having fun combining two or more words to describe the flavour of the food and drink. In addition to that, we continued broadening our understanding of Chinese character by looking at the evolution of the character for fruit (果guǒ).
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